Worrying: Sally Roberts, 37, who went on the run to prevent her son being given radiotherapy revealed last night the heartbreaking news that his tumour has regrown

The mother who went on the run to prevent her son being given radiotherapy revealed last night the heartbreaking news that his tumour has regrown.

But while Sally Roberts, 37, had said she would relent and allow seven-year-old Neon to have the treatment if the cancer returned, yesterday she said she was ‘50/50 still’.

‘It’s all up in the air,’ she said. ‘I don’t want my boy to have radiotherapy because of the side effects. I still think Neon does not need it.

‘I will continue to do research. If I can find any doctor who says he does not need it I will continue to fight.’

Mrs Roberts, 37, sparked a nationwide hunt ten days ago when she went on the run with Neon, who had an operation to remove a large brain tumour in October.

The mother of two disappeared after a doctor told her radiotherapy was needed to ‘fry his brain’ to make sure the cancer did not return.

Authorities tracked them down last Thursday. Neon is now being looked after by his father, Mrs Roberts’s estranged husband, Ben.

Mrs Roberts has since been fighting a high-profile legal battle with two hospitals to stop them giving Neon the treatment, arguing that he should be healed with alternative therapies instead. Mr Roberts believes he should have conventional treatment.

Yesterday, doctors told Neon’s parents that cancer had returned to the area where the previous medulloblastoma tumour was removed during a nine-hour operation on October 25.

A one centimetre mass was spotted after an MRI scan on Friday, and while Mrs Roberts was hopeful this would turn out to be harmless, further tests performed on Monday afternoon confirmed the worst.

It is now 48 days since Neon’s first operation, just one day from the 49-day deadline when radiotherapy must begin or a patient’s chance of survival is significantly reduced.

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The little boy now needs further surgery to remove the regrowth and courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy – although Mrs Roberts is seeking second opinions on the scans before consenting.

She and Mr Roberts were called to an urgent 45-minute meeting with a neurosurgeon yesterday.

Sad: Neon Roberts, 7, pictured, is suffering from a recurrence of his brain tumour, his mother revealed last night

Afterwards, Mrs Roberts told the Daily
Mail: ‘It is dreadful, it is really awful. It does seem to be a one
centimetre regrowth and they want to do more surgery.

‘But the doctors are saying it is not too bad. It is in the big cavity where the last tumour was so it could be a lot worse. Everyone is very positive about it.’

Mrs Roberts fears that radiotherapy will cause devastating side effects, such as infertility and reduced IQ. But while she had previously said she would allow doctors to perform radiotherapy if the cancer returned, she now says she will seek further medical opinions.

Sally Roberts, 37, pictured left, has been
battling with her estranged husband, Ben, 34, pictured right, over the
treatment of their son Neon

She added that she particularly wanted to continue the legal battle for other mothers in her position, who she believes should have the right to stop their children being given possibly unnecessary radiotherapy if their cancers have been removed in full by surgery.

A High Court judgment on whether Mrs Roberts could prevent her son having radiotherapy was adjourned on Saturday.

It will make its ruling next Tuesday, following updated medical reports.